Dutch-Oven Dessert Cook Off

We also had the Quick family reunion about a week later.  We had a lot of fun playing games, seeing family, and of course eating.  My parents decided that the dessert cook off was so much fun at my Dad's reunion that we should do it at the Quick one too!  I decided I might as well compete.

I soon found out that almost everyone was going to cook something and they were practicing to make sure it would be just right.  So of course the competitiveness in me began to come out.  We practiced making and apple pie in the dutch oven and it surprisingly turned out so well!  So I was set for the competition, thinking I had done it before and shouldn't make any mistakes.

I love to watch competitions on Food Network and I sometimes wonder how when they cook and practice everyday they can ever forget something or mess something up.  Well I now know : ).  We were given a time limit and it didn't seem like enough time at all!  I was hurrying so fast I totally forgot to put the sugar in the pie crust, which I didn't notice till after the whole pie was made and the lattice top put on. It went a little something like this:

Me: Mom, does this pie crust taste salty to you?

Mom: Woah! Yeah did you put too much salt?  Its WAY salty!

Me: No I swear I know I put the right.....(I was looking at the recipe).....Awww I forgot to put the sugar in!

Mom:  How much sugar did it call for?

Me: ummm....a 1/3 of a cup (cringing).

Mom: Thats a lot of sugar....we'll just have to see.

I was sure that I had ruined the whole thing and gave up all hope of winning.  The good thing about the pie that I chose is that the filling is extremely sweet and right under the top crust is a whole ton of sugar.  You sprinkle a mixture of brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, and pecans on top of the apples before you put the top crust on.  So when the pie was done and I tried the first bite I was pleasantly surprised to find it was even better without all that sugar in the crust.  It helped to balance the sweetness of the filling!

Everyone had to sample the different desserts and then on a silent, private ballot cast their votes.  They announced the third and then the second.  My name wasn't in either and I knew I had won!  We got a 12" lodge dutch oven which is great because we only had one 10" one!!  (my Dad was in charge of the prizes and of course went all out on the dutch oven stuff : ).   I felt like I was in a food network competition for a couple of hours.  The only thing missing was the $10,000 check at the end : ).

August Catch-Up

We started August with the Boyer Reunion.  It was so much fun as always.  We got to see a lot of Doug's cousins, which was great!  Some of the high lights of the Reunion were boating, rock climbing, and of course skits/talent night.  I got a lot of pictures during the rock climbing but seemed to have forgotten my camera for the other activities.

The Great Climbers...

     

We also took the kids to the Splash Park and Carousel.  It was so much fun to watch them play! Here's me and a couple of my adorable nephews.

  

Later on in August Mom and Dad Hansen drove us, Rachel and Bryant to meet Becca and Craig in SunValley and go to the Symphony.  We enjoyed the drive and were able to stop and say hi to Grandma Boyer for a couple of minutes!  It was so good to see her again.

We listened to wonderful music while the weather got pretty rainy. Luckily we were under the tent during the concert.  We got some blankets to walk under while Doug and his family reminisced about their days while Dad played in the Sun Valley Symphony.  It was fun and we had a great time!

      

The Waite family reunion was in Island Park this year!  So we only had to drive a couple hours to get there.  We got to stay in a fun cabin, play games, sing songs, buy fun things at a bazaar, and bid on items in an auction.  It was so beautiful up in the mountains and we loved spending time outside playing horse shoes and darts.

I think one of my favorite things about reunions is most definitely the food.  We always eat so well! We got to do dutch oven cooking one night and got to sample delicious desserts from the dessert cook off.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera and I have no pictures : (

July Catch-Up

July was a pretty crazy time for us!  I graduated with my Associates in Piano Pedagogy, so my parents came up to see me.  I also was lucky (or should I say unlucky?) enough to be asked to play a musical selection at convocation.  Of course I had to say yes although I really hate the pressure of performing, especially in front of all of the music majors graduating.  Here are some pictures from that extremely terrifying and yet still relieving experience.

         

  

Of course everyone was there to support me from Doug's family and for that I was very grateful.

So after that was over my Mom stayed for a week while my Dad went home and worked.  We had a reunion up in Idaho so he would return the following week for that and they could both go home together.

My Mom was such a sport!  She got thrown in the middle of Becca's wedding, helping me quilt and the Boyer Reunion!  It would be so overwhelming and yet she loved every minute of it and made herself at home like she was just part of the family.  I was so glad to have her here for a whole week it was wonderful!

As I said she helped me finish the quilt I made for Becca.  It was crazy because I put the quilt top together while I was going to school and got the quilt up on the frames right before finals week.  Well I didn't get too much quilting done because of finals so we had a whole lot to accomplish in 5 days so we could have it ready to display at the reception.

           

   

Luckily we had the help of the whole family!  Yep those are the Quilting Hansen Brothers!  They were great sports to come and put a few stitches in.  Dad Hansen and Bryce did put ONE stitch in and wanted to be sure everyone knew it, I just didn't catch them on camera with the evidence.  Needless to say I think they all came away with a new understanding of how hard quilting can be : ).  They really were awesome at it and their stitches were so neat and straight!

So then that brings me to the wedding.  We were so excited to witness Becca and Craig being sealed!  It was a special experience to have see so much family together in the temple to lend their love and support.

                 

Becca was such a beautiful bride and Craig looked rather dashing in his tux : ).  We enjoyed a beautiful reception with a wonderful program and of course wonderful food!  We are definitely looking forward to having Becca and Craig back from Twin Falls!

Well that wraps up July.  Stay tuned for catch-up from August....

June Catch-Up

June was a pretty fun month for us!  We had Dad & Mom Hansen's birthdays, June 2nd and 13th.  It was great to get together have dinner and ice cream cake yumm!!


Then we went for a drive up around Palisades Reservoir.  It was a beautiful trip!  We stopped for tinfoil dinners, s'mores, and some campfire songs.  It was great to have Becca and Craig with us although I think we truly opened his eyes to the Hansen family when we started singing, "Once an Austrian went yodeling..."

   Doug & I by the reservoir


                              Enjoying S'mores!!

             

It was a great trip and we enjoyed the outdoors, even if we didn't camp over night!  The one disappointment was that I didn't get to try the famous Square Ice Cream.  We will have to go back for sure since I am assured that it tastes way different that regular scooped ice cream.

Oh where as the time gone....

Ok so I realize I haven't blogged in like 6 months! A lot has been going on! Things have been just plain busy, but I figured when is it not busy? So I will try my best to keep up on blogging.

I will start with playing catch-up for the next few posts. I need to get a cable for my camera so that I can post some pictures with what has been going on. Then most definitely I will be posting! Ok until then...: )

Schools out!!......Or so I thought.

I'm finally done, with the exception of one online class, with my Associates in Piano Pedagogy!!!  Yay!  This past week was so wonderful with no school.  I only had piano teaching to worry about and helping Becca plan her wedding.  But by the end of the week I must admit, I got a little bored.  I think its because I've been so busy since I started college, so when I get some freedom it seems like I have so much time with so little to do.

So this brings me to my big announcement.......*drum roll*.......

I'm going back to school : ).  Tomorrow actually : ).  What am I thinking???  Well you see.....I had to take this one class this summer so I can graduate.  Its a 3 credit class and so it was going to cost me about $400.  Thats quite a bit for one silly class but I had to do it so I got online and registered for it.  A couple days later(last friday actually) I received an e-mail telling me that my scholarship information was updated.  "What scholarship info?" I asked myself, "I'm off track this semester.  hmmmmm."  So I got into my account and found that I had been awarded full tuition scholarship this summer if I took a full load of classes!  

My first thought was, "Too bad I only need one class.  I'll have to pay for it anyways."  Then the little thought that had been in the back of my head for the past two semesters crept up.  "We'll I did want to try to get an Associates in Professional Preschool Education.  Although last time I talked to the academic office they pretty much acted like that wouldn't be possible." And with that little thought I became very determined.  I decided that I would have to really find out.  So I jumped back online, registered for the classes I needed to get started (its amazing they weren't all full), and headed up to the college to see if it was possible.

After about an hour of talking to "someone else"  I finally nailed it down.  As long as I fill out a paper graduation form and then petition to change my major it should all work out.  Now the catch is that I have to petition, which means that they can tell me no, but they acted like it wouldn't be a problem to switch my major.  And the beautiful thing about it is I can be done by the end of next summer!! I could have just continued in music and gotten a bachelors in piano performance but I don't really like to perform, and I've already got the teaching degree. Now I get to gain new skills and do another degree that is similar to what I was leaning towards when I first started college (early childhood special ed)!  

Needless to say I'm excited and no longer bored : )...........  Just don't ask me in a month if I'm glad I'm in school.

Yay! Our computer has returned to us!

Finally our computer is home and working!  No more slow laptop that never shuts down when you want it to, is so slow it's not worth using, and can't handle running more than one program at a time.  Yes our wonderful Mac is back!  Just thought I'd let you all know how happy we are about it :).